Dr. Tran Viet Thai

Dr. Tran Viet Thai

PANEL 3: Perspectives from the UN Member States
 Dr-Tran-Viet-Thai Dr. Tran Viet Thai
President, Tanzania Red Cross Society (Tanzania)

He graduated in agricultural engineering in 1988 and pursued post-graduate studies in renewable energy and environment science, business administration and philosophy which best position him to deal with complex development processes. His life-long involvement in humanitarian service delivery as a Red Cross volunteer and a rural development advocate in Tanzania project his enormous experiences in leadership and management towards achieving national and international cooperation development goals. He has written several books on political philosophy and served as a Member of the East African Parliament from 2001 to 2012; and was elected the President of the Tanzania Red Cross Society and subsequently Member of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) Governing Board from 2013 to 2015. He is currently an entrepreneur and a Doctor of Business Administration Scholar on Contract Farming Research with Maastricht School of Management and the East and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI).

DR. TRAN VIET THAI, the Deputy Director-General of the Institute for Foreign Strategic Studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, started his remarks by mentioning the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam coordinating with various organizations in Vietnam to review how Vietnam has been so far in implementing the MDGs, initiated by the United Nations. He underlined that Vietnam have accomplished at least 3 goals of 2015, in advance.

Dr. Thai underlined that the first lesson they realized after reviewing is that the government of Vietnam has a very high political will and commitment in implementing the MDGs. Especially in September 2000, Dr. Thai said that Vietnam`s President has emphasized that Vietnam is strongly committed to being a rapid, efficient, and sustainable development society, in which economic growth goes hand-to-hand with social progresses, justice and environmental protections. He underlined that the second lesson is that good governance and strong institutions. According to Dr. Thai, the definition of good governance and strong institutions, is that it must consist of a system of south policies, effective regulatory mechanisms, and practical allies.

Dr. Thai said, “I would like to emphasize that practical allies are extremely important. We have to go down localities, to match what we have, what’re our policy terms and what are the practice, and match it with each other.” The second component of this lesson, as Dr. Thai underlined, is effective bureaucracies and strong institutions with high political values, south policies and plans, and preconditions for successfully implementing the MDGs.

Dr. Thai also emphasized that the role of education, Vietnam’s National Committee for Advancement of Women, and the association of veterans in Vietnam important in coordinating projects, in channeling funds, and in implementing the MDGs. Moving on to the third lesson that Vietnam has drawn out is that innovation and creativeness. Dr. Thai underlined that among these creative things, we have already localized the energy by inventing our own Millennium Goals of Vietnam. We call it MGV. He finds this fact very important because sometimes the goals here are general, so we need to make them practical and suitable for localities. He said that the localities are based on implementing. Dr. Thai emphases that Vietnam also intercept the goals of the MDGs with the goal in national, local, and sectorial economic and social development strategies of Vietnam, which is very important. According to him poverty reduction is one of the one of the biggest successes in Vietnam so far, in implementing the MDGs.

Dr. George Francis Nangale

Dr. George Francis Nangale

PANEL 3: Perspectives from the UN Member States
 Panel-3-5-George-Francis-NangaleDr. George Francis Nangale
President, Tanzania Red Cross Society (Tanzania)

He graduated in agricultural engineering in 1988 and pursued post-graduate studies in renewable energy and environment science, business administration and philosophy which best position him to deal with complex development processes. His life-long involvement in humanitarian service delivery as a Red Cross volunteer and a rural development advocate in Tanzania project his enormous experiences in leadership and management towards achieving national and international cooperation development goals. He has written several books on political philosophy and served as a Member of the East African Parliament from 2001 to 2012; and was elected the President of the Tanzania Red Cross Society and subsequently Member of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) Governing Board from 2013 to 2015. He is currently an entrepreneur and a Doctor of Business Administration Scholar on Contract Farming Research with Maastricht School of Management and the East and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI).

 

Ndeye Awa Mbodj

Ndeye Awa Mbodj

PANEL 3: Perspectives from the UN Member States
 Panel-3-4-Ndeye-Awa-Mbodj Hon. Ndeye Awa Mbodj
Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

President of the Network of Parliament for Promoting the Defense and the Integration of Senegalese Diaspora (Senegal)

HON. NDEYE AWA MBODJ, Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and President of the Network of Parliament for Promoting the Defense and Integration of Senegalese Diaspora, delivered her speech on the parliamentary contributions to the sustainable development. As a form of economic development aimed for reconciling economic and social progress with environmental conservation, H.E. Mbodj said that sustainable development should combine several requirements: fulfilling present and future generations’ basic needs, improving the quality of life, strengthening of rights and freedom, and generating new forms of renewable energy. H.E. Mbodj added that a decree on the establishment, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Sustainable Development was introduced in Senegal. The missions assigned to the new structure revolved around the promoting sustainable development, ensuring its integration into all state policies, following the implementations of the outcome of international meetings on this issue, promoting synergy among multicultural environmental disputes, developing international cooperation, and lastly, approving and monitoring the national strategy for sustainable development and response related plans.

Furthermore, H.E. Mbodj explained how different institutional arrangements and consultation frameworks have helped to contribute to good governance by mastering and sharing resources and information, transparency and participatory approach including strengthening the involvement and accountability of non-state actors (local authorities, CBOs, public, private sector). H.E. Mbodj added that, in Senegal, a mission was assigned to the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development to manage natural resources and the environment in order to help reduce poverty in a sustainable development perspective. She mentioned the creation of the Parliamentary Network for Environmental Protection at the National Assembly in 1996 and described its role as “taking a part of a dynamic support to governments, local communities and environmental stakeholders to promote sustainable development and good environmental governance.” Lastly, H.E. Mbodj emphasized the need for collaboration between governmental and local authorities in order for an effective sustainable development to occur.

H.E. Dr. Arben Malaj

H.E. Dr. Arben Malaj

PANEL 3: Perspectives from the UN Member States
 Panel-3-3-Arben-Malaj H.E. Dr. Arben Malaj
President – Institute for Public Policy and Good Governance Fr. Minister of Economy & Finance – (Albania)

Arben Malaj, Ph.D., former Minister of Finance and Economy, is a full professor of economic sciences at the College of Economics, University of Tirana. He is the Founding President of the Institute for Public Policy and Good Governance. In 1986, Mr. Malaj received a Doctorate Degree in Finance from the University of Tirana. He was a Senior Fellow and carried out an extensive research at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government Center for Business and Government (September, 2005-June, 2006). In April 2007, he attended the Senior Executive Program, a postgraduate study program focused on the expansion of NATO and the European Union in the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany. In 2002, Mr. Malaj was elected as a member of the Senate in the College od Economic Sciences at the University of Tirana, a responsibility that lasted until 2007.

H.E. DR. ARBEN MALAJ, President of the Institute for Public Policy, Good Governance and Former Minister of Finance and Economy in Albania, delivered his remarks on incentivizing better education. H.E. Malaj began by acknowledging the paramount importance that the panel’s discussion holds as it is necessary “to act together globally and find ways to improve and enhance public and private partnership as a key element of the success of this noble mission.” He went on to discuss the detrimental effects that the recent world crises have had on the development of maladministered countries. H.E. Malaj emphasized that the best strategy to deal with such challenges is prevention, and the best cure to economic, social and political costs is sustainable development.

H.E. Malaj said the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), along with the international and national agencies that monitor the implementation of MDG-related strategies, reforms and policies should be improved. Governments, he said, have a responsibility to support this improvement process. Moreover, H.E. Malaj tackled the obstacles that educated and talented individuals face. Some of these difficulties were unemployment, nepotism, corruption, and weak institutions. He highlighted the importance of improving education and supporting all talents by providing equal opportunities, eliminating the division between non-EU and EU countries, and eliminating ethnic or religious segregation.

H.E. Malaj said that putting more barriers on labor mobility and penalizing individuals who seek better opportunities only produces insecurity, crises, conflicts, poverty and more inequality. In regards to the current immigration crisis, H.E. Malaj said that is possible to stop this dilemma with more comprehensive, clearer, and greater incentives for the people of the developing countries; starting by offering equal opportunities, especially education. H.E. Malaj concluded his speech by calling for the support of well-educated and talented generations in developing countries as this issue “needs to be a key priority for Sustainable Development Goals Agenda.”